PART II. PLANT BREEDING 



CHAPTER XV 

 HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION 



Plant improvement is nearly as old as agriculture. Our earliest agri- 

 culturists must have protected the trees or plants that yielded food or 

 shelter. Under protection the desirable forms among the chosen species 

 were preserved. The finest example of this earliest plant improvement 

 is found in rice, which has been cultivated for 5000 years or more in 

 India and China and has long been grown in Egypt, East Africa, Japan, 

 the Philippines, Java, Turkey and Italy. The remarkable plasticity of 

 this species has enabled it to produce literally thousands of locally adapted 

 forms. The oldest records of intentional preservation of superior plants 

 are found, according to Darwin, in ancient Chinese encyclopedias that 

 were translated by the Jesuits during the 18th century. The best plants 

 anoMruit trees were used for propagation; an imperial edict recommended 

 the choice of large seed ; and even the Emperor Khang-hi is said to have 

 originated the imperial rice by preserving and propagating a form which 

 he noticed in a field. The original progenitors of our most important 

 crop plants are mostly lost in antiquity, their descendants having been 

 preserved by man's conscious or unconscious selection of desirable mu- 

 tants or natural hybrids. 



The Beginning of Plant Breeding. Long before any one thought of 

 making a philosophical study of plant improvement the hybridization of 

 flowers and the preservation of choice strains or favorite varieties was 

 a common practice among gardeners and husbandmen. According to 

 Fruwirth hybridization was practised in ancient times in China with 

 various flowers, in Italy during the Roman Empire with roses, and in the 

 17th century in Holland with tulips and primulas; and the artificial 

 pollination of the female date palm was mentioned by Theophrastus 

 as the beginning of the study of plant culture. The earliest syste- 

 matic work in the production of new varieties, of which we have authentic 

 records, was done by the Dutch flower fanciers. The hyacinth, ac- 

 cording to Darwin, was introduced into England in 1596 and in 1629 

 eight varieties were known. During the next hundred years or more 

 the selection of varieties was carried on by the Dutch growers until, in 



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